| |
|
CHUMASH
Parshas Behaalosecha - Shlishi with Rashi
|
|
Today we learn about Pesach — and Pesach Sheini!
The Mishkan was put up on Rosh Chodesh Nissan. Hashem told Moshe to tell the Yidden to bring a Korban on Erev Pesach. Even though Moshe told them about this before, he reviewed it with them again when they actually had to bring the korban!
On Erev Pesach, the Yidden did exactly what Hashem asked, and brought the Korban Pesach.
But not ALL the Yidden. Some Yidden were tamei and couldn’t bring the Korban. They were very disappointed! They tried to give a reason to Moshe that they could bring the Korban Pesach even though they were tamei. “Lama Nigara?” they asked. “Why should we be left out? We also want to bring the Korban Pesach!”
Moshe asked Hashem what he should do.
Hashem told Moshe that these Yidden were wrong, they CAN’T bring a Korban Pesach when they are tamei. But they CAN still bring one later!
One month after Erev Pesach, on Yud-Daled Iyar, anyone who didn’t have a chance before can bring the Korban Pesach. They still need to keep the same halachos, eating it with matzah and not leaving any over until the morning. The only difference is that they are allowed to have chometz, and to do melacha on Pesaach Sheini.
The Torah warns us not to say “I’ll bring the korban later”. If we CAN bring the Korban Pesach on time, it is an aveira to push it off until Pesach Sheini on purpose.
|
| |
|
|
In today’s Tehillim, in Kapitel Pey-Daled, we have a posuk which we are learning about now in Tanya! “Ki Shemesh UMagen Hashem Elokim!” “Because the name of Hashem and Elokim is like a sun and its cover.”
A mashal for the chayus of Hashem in the world is the sun, which shines very strong. If the sun shines on us with all of its might, it would make the world too hot! The world can only be a place for us to live because there is a cover on the sun, so we can enjoy its light.
The same is with the chayus of Hashem: The chayus from the name Havaya is so strong that we wouldn’t be able to live in the world like regular people — we would just feel like we are part of the chayus of Hashem. But the name Elokim covers up the name Havaya so we are able to live in the world and keep Torah and mitzvos like Hashem wants.
The main name of Hashem that the world sees is Elokim, the hidden chayus of Hashem. But the Avodah of a Yid is to remember that inside of this chayus is the chayus of the name Yud-Kay-Vov-Kay that is higher than nature, and that the chayus of the name Yud-Kay-Vov-Kay and the name Elokim is the same Hashem!
We remind ourselves of this in our tefillos and brachos, when we say “Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu,” and when we say “Baruch Ata Hashem Elokeinu” — that there is a chayus of Hashem that a Yid is connected to that doesn’t have to follow the rules of nature!
|
| |
|
TANYA
Shaar Hayichud Veha'emunah Perek Vov
|
|
The two names of Hashem, Havaya and Elokim, work together: Hashem creates the world and gives us chayus with Sheim Havaya, and then hides the chayus using Sheim Elokim, so we can live in the world and choose to serve Hashem! These names of Hashem are describing two different midos of Hashem, but they are of course part of only ONE Hashem. Even though they might look different to us, we understand that by Hashem they are really one.
The Alter Rebbe shows us where Eliyahu Hanavi talks about this, in the part of the Zohar that starts Posach Eliyahu, which we say on Erev Shabbos before Mincha.
Moshe Rabbeinu told this to the Yidden before they went into Eretz Yisroel, and told them that they should remember this for always. He told them that when you think about this, you will understand that there is nothing that exists aside for Hashem!
We say this posuk every day in davening, at the end of Aleinu! “Veyadaata Hayom, Vehasheivosa El Levavecha, Ki Hashem Hu HoElokim BaShomayim Mimaal, Ve’al HaAretz Mitachas Ein Od”: “You should know today and take to heart that Hashem is Elokim (meaning that even the world where Hashem is hidden, ‘Elokim,’ is all part of Hashem) and then you’ll know that in Shomayim above and on earth below, there is nothing separate from Hashem at all!”
|
| |
|
|
Let’s say you go with Mommy and Tatty to the store, to buy a very special birthday present — a new bike! You see all the bikes in the store, but one of them makes you look twice. It is a super-fancy kind, with 25 speeds, and flashing lights on the back and on the wheels, a basket that you can put your name on, a horn AND a bell AND a built-in place for a lock, and even a place to clip a video camera to the front!
When you see that bike, something inside you doesn’t let you choose it. You feel like that’s TOO much Gashmius. You decide to get a different bike instead — one that’s nice, but not with all of those extra taavos which are exciting, but you don’t really need.
That feeling inside of us is important and special. It’s part of Avodas Hashem and what a Yid should feel. By not running after taavos which don’t help us do what Hashem wants, we are showing that what’s important to us is not the pleasures in the world, but our connection to Hashem. That brings Hashem a lot of nachas!
But it’s only a beginning. The main avodah of a Yid is not in what we DON’T do, but in what we DO. The MAIN avodah is to take the bike that we DID buy, and to use it to get exercise and to have fun so we can be healthy and happy and be able to learn better. The main avodah is using what we have to serve Hashem.
Another example of this is choosing not to read the news if it won’t help us serve Hashem. That’s iskafya and very important. But the MAIN avodah is using our time and mind instead to learn Torah!
|
| |
|
|
In today’s Sefer Hamitzvos, we learn the same mitzvah one last time, and then we learn a new mitzvah that we will learn over and over again!
1) (Mitzvas Asei #246) When people have an argument about money or other things a person can have, the Beis Din needs to judge the case the way the Torah teaches.
2) (Mitzvas Asei #248) We also learn a new mitzvah: When someone passes away, who gets their things (yerusha)? We need to follow the rules in the Torah — including that the firstborn gets double!
|
| |
|
RAMBAM
Hilchos To'ein Venit'an - Nachlos
|
|
In today’s Rambam we finish learning the halachos about people arguing in Beis Din.
Perek Tes-Zayin: The Rambam teaches us about when the Beis Din shouldn’t trust someone — like if someone was a witness for another person selling a field, he can’t later come to the Beis Din and say that the field was stolen from him! If the field had really been stolen from him, he wouldn’t have been a witness for the other person selling it.
The last halacha of this set teaches us to be very careful not to lie in Beis Din, even when it is to get the money back to the right person!
We start a new set of halachos today, halachos about nachalos — who gets someone’s things after they pass away? The halacha is that usually it goes to the children, with the firstborn getting double!
Perek Alef teaches us how to figure out which relatives get the yerusha.
In Perek Beis, we learn how the bechor gets his double portion of the yerusha! We count how many people are supposed to get the yerusha, and add one to that number. Then we divide up the yerusha into that many equal parts. The bechor gets two of those parts, and the rest of the people get one.
|
| |
|
|
Perek Gimmel talks about people who don’t follow what the Sanhedrin says:
- If a person decides he doesn’t believe in the Torah Shebaal Peh, he isn’t just rebelling against the Chachomim, he is going against the whole Torah! He should be killed, even outside of Beis Din.
And now the Rambam talks about shlichus!
- If a person doesn’t believe in the Torah Shebaal Peh because that’s what his parents taught him, he shouldn’t be punished — it’s not his fault that he doesn’t know better! He’s like a little baby who was captured and grew up in a non-Jewish home, and didn’t learn the Torah. Instead of punishing him, we should try to teach him Torah in a loving way, so that he will learn the right way to act.
- A Zaken Mamrei — a Talmid Chochom who paskens differently than the Sanhedrin — has to be killed, because he is making the Yidden not have achdus, he is making them act differently than everyone else!
|
| |
|
|
We are a little more than two weeks from Gimmel Tammuz, which is a very important day for all Yidden, and especially for Chassidim! Just like with a Yom Tov, if we really want to appreciate it and get the brachos from it, we need to prepare before. So too, Gimmel Tammuz needs preparation.
Today, in preparation for Gimmel Tammuz, we will learn about hiskashrus to a Rebbe after he physically passes away, called histalkus.
There is a famous section in Igeres Hakodesh of Tanya, siman chof-zayin, which is the first place in Chassidus Chabad that explains the connection of a tzadik and a Rebbe with their Chassidim after histalkus.
First, the Alter Rebbe tells us (based on the words of the Zohar) that the brachos and tefillos of the tzadik for the Gashmius of the chassidim, and also what the tzadik gives in Ruchnius, still continue even after his histalkus, and even stronger than before.
After that, the Alter Rebbe starts to explain how Chassidim are able to receive MORE from the tzadik after the histalkus than they were able to receive before.
How?
During the tzadik’s lifetime, we are able to SEE the Tzadik, and hear what he tells us. The talmidim are able to learn from the Rebbe’s thoughts and words that are shared with them.
After the histalkus, we might think that since we can’t see and hear the tzadik, we receive less. But that’s not true! After the histalkus, we are not only able to receive from the WORDS of the tzadik, but we are able to receive from a deeper part of the tzadik’s neshama! And since the tzadik is no longer limited by a Gashmius guf, EVERYONE who is in ANY PLACE is able to receive from this deeper part of the tzadik’s neshama.
Even though it takes more effort, and we need to really work hard to follow the instructions that the tzadik gave us, still we are able to receive more from the tzadik after the histalkus.
It is possible then to understand on a much deeper level what the Rebbe teaches, and we have extra kochos to fulfill what he teaches in the best possible way. And then we are also able to receive the brachos in Gashmius that come from living as the tzadik taught us, even more than before!
The Rebbe often quoted this Igeres Hakodesh, when speaking about the previous Rebbeim after their histalkus. From this we understand that today too, even though it is after Gimmel Tammuz and we cannot see the Rebbe, Chassidim have a tremendous koach, more than ever before, to learn the Rebbe’s Torah and fulfill the Rebbe’s shlichus. This way we will also be keilim to receive all of the Rebbe’s brachos, especially the most important bracha, the Geulah Sheleimah, when we will again be together with the Rebbe begashmius and learn the Torah of Moshiach Tzidkeinu!
|
| |
|
▼ Jump to Coloring Books & Downloads ▼
|
| |
|
|
A bochur once came to the Rebbe in yechidus. He asked the Rebbe a question that was bothering him — how could he have more chayus in davening?
The Rebbe answered him that he should split up the davening into 6 or 7 parts. Every day, he should think about the Chassidishe meaning of one of those parts. That way, over the week, he will spend some time on each part of davening.
Of course, this doesn’t mean to ignore the rest of davening! Every day, he still should try to understand the simple meaning of the words he is saying. But he only needs to think about the deeper meanings of one part of davening each day.
|
| |
|
|
In Shulchan Aruch, it teaches that davening NEEDS to be with kavana. Because of this, a person is even allowed to daven in whatever language he speaks, so that he will understand what he is saying.
Practically speaking, we daven nowadays in Lashon Kodesh even if we don’t understand it. We do this because there is a special kedusha in Lashon Kodesh, and many deeper meanings and kavanos are hidden in these words.
Still, this halacha teaches us how important it is to understand the meaning of davening!
When we know what the words of davening mean, we can daven with all of the beautiful kavanos and deeper meanings hidden in the words of Lashon Kodesh, as well as the main thing — understanding the words we say to Hashem!
See the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, siman Kuf-Alef
|
|
לעילוי נשמת הרה״ח ר׳ דניאל יצחק ע״ה בן ר׳ אפרים שי׳ מאסקאוויץ
שליח כ"ק אדמו"ר נשיא דורנו למדינת אילינוי
|
| |
|
|
The Navi Yeshaya is also called the “Navi HaGeulah,” because he is the Navi that speaks the MOST about Moshiach in his nevuos!
In one of Yeshaya’s nevuos about the end of Golus and the beginning of the Geulah, he tells us about how we will go out of Golus:
כִּי בְשִׂמְחָה תֵצֵאוּ וּבְשָׁלוֹם תּוּבָלוּן הֶהָרִים וְהַגְּבָעוֹת יִפְצְחוּ לִפְנֵיכֶם רִנָּה וְכָל עֲצֵי הַשָּׂדֶה יִמְחֲאוּ כָף
Ki Besimcha Seitzeiu — You will go out of Golus with joy!
U’veshalom Tuvalun — And you will be brought back to Eretz Yisrael in a way of shalom!
Heharim Vehag’vaos — The mountains and the hills
Yiftzechu Lifneichem Rina — Will burst into song before you!
Vechol Atzei Hasadeh — And all of the trees of the field
Yimcha’u Chaf — Will clap their hands!
According to one of the meforshim, this posuk is saying a mashal: When someone is happy, they feel that the whole world is happy too! Since we will be so happy when Moshiach comes, we will feel like the whole world, including the mountains and the trees, are singing and clapping together with us!
The Rebbe would usually finish off farbrengens with singing a niggun with words from this posuk!
See Yeshaya Perek Nun-Hey posuk Yud-Beis, and pirush of Metzudos
|
| |
|
|
|
לע"נ התינוק זאב ארי' ע"ה בן יבלט"א הרה"ח ר' שניאור זלמן שי' גליק
נפטר ב' מנחם אב ה'תשע"ג
|
| |
Give children around the world the gift of Kids Chitas!
KidsChitas.org/sponsor
|
| |
|
